1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to bipolar plates for electrochemical cells.
2. Background Art
An electrochemical cell, such as a fuel cell, generally includes two electrodes, two bipolar plates, and an electrolyte. In particular, the two electrodes, an anode and a cathode, are disposed between the two bipolar plates. The electrolyte is sandwiched between the two electrodes. The resulting structure includes, sequentially, a first bipolar plate, an anode, an electrolyte, a cathode, and a second bipolar plate. For greater energy output, one or more such fuel cells may be stacked together to form a fuel cell stack.
In the field of fuel cell technology, there are increasing requirements for fuel cell stacks with greater performance and longer life time. However, conventional bipolar plates have been met with limited use due to prohibitive material cost and/or less than satisfactory performance in formability, manufacturability, or corrosion resistance.